ICHIKO AOBA STYLE ANALYSIS AND MY CONCERT OUTFIT
ichiko aoba is a singer and composer from japan whose works i’ve been enjoying a lot recently. i could try (and fail) to describe her songs to you but i’d much rather you have a listen yourself! she just released her new album “luminescent creatures” which she is going on tour with over the next few months and i absolutely can’t wait to see her in concert in two weeks. she’s one of the few artists where tickets are still $30 (though ofc i had to buy a resale ticket for twice the amount, but that’s on me and ticketmaster) and she’s travelling all over the world, so you should check if she’s in your city too if you like her songs. personally, hearing her sing live has been on my bucket list ever since my dear tiktok algorithm offered me a clip of her singing “asleep among endives” in a church.
here are some personal song suggestions:
- mr. sun (太陽さん)
- bouquet
- seabed eden
- luminescent creatures (with 12 ensemble)
- sagu’s palm song (with 12 ensemble)
- prisomnia
while i find myself replaying the quicker, lighter songs the most, the songs that make me feel like walking through a long-awaited summer downpour i treasure a lot too. i harbour much love for the strings versions.
there are many themes that characterise ichiko aoba’s person, art and – of course – fashion; and most of them are in some way connected to nature and especially: the ocean.
i’d like to share some more of ichiko’s quotes with you as she is just so amazing with words and i can’t help but be moved by her ideas, observations, her way of living. a style analysis should include her verbal expression along with her visual one, it would feel wrong to leave this part out. (once i get my hands on her lyric book i will share some lyrics that struck a chord with me as well – but somewhere else on my website. i will definitely link it to this post then!)
ichiko on our sense of hearing and its overlap with other senses:
if you close your eyes, it has tentacles like a sea anemone, and you can also absorb and assemble the particles that suit you at that time, and input them as if you had experienced them. that is exactly what it means to create. it's so obvious that I tend to forget, but it's a magnificent creation of life.”
“the life aquatic of ichiko aoba” by alan pedder, published on february 26th:
To more deeply understand where she is coming from, Aoba wants to take us right back to the dawn of the planet. “When the first creatures were born in the deep sea, one of the first decisions they ever made in an attempt to communicate with others was to light up,” she says. “Light became one of the first forms of communication, and I think that, even now, when any of us in this modern day and age wants to communicate with someone else, a part of us lights up. I believe that there is luminescence in so many places, in so many different forms, and we can’t necessarily see it with our eyes. I thought, if only we were able to notice that glow, everyone’s lives would be so much richer.” […]
Even when bombarded with news from the world at large or the surface mundanity of everyday life, often mentally zooming out to see the bigger picture can help. “You can just walk through life, for the most part, by doing the bare minimum, but really thinking deeply about how we live from day to day makes things much more interesting,” she says. “Up close, we see all these individual things in our lives, whether they are islands, people, thoughts, or ideas, but when you zoom out they form something like a star system.” She holds up her notebook to the camera, pointing to a doodle she’s just made of a person-constellation, then a kaleidoscope suddenly appears and she’s peering through it into camera, twisting it to make the coloured shapes inside it move and refract. It almost looks like coral, I say, and she smiles.”
i encourage you to read this article, it made me tear up multiple times.
@ichikoaoba on instagram:
i created a moodboard out of some of my favorite outfits of hers and tried to pinpoint some common elements. i’m interested in whether ichiko chooses her tour outfits herself or if she has a stylist at her side? either way, she definitely has a great sense of personal style and her off-stage outfits feel very coherent with her looks while performing so i’m not going to differentiate between the two. and while her photoshoot outfits are of course more intricate, it never looks "costumey" on her.
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when i think of ichiko, i think of her in a white dress that has many layers and wide sleeves. when she wears her black hair long, it’s often adorned with various accessorises like seashells, glitter, ribbons, flowers and braids that truly make her look like a fairy or mermaid. i think that especially her hair plays an important role in her styling. even when its left simple, it itself decorates her person beautifully.
ichiko aoba fans are very conscious dressers and i can’t wait to see what everyone will look like! i of course also want to dress up as a means to celebrate ichiko’s show in berlin, and i want to fit into the overall atmosphere of “luminescent creatures”. it’ll be exciting!
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i want to incorporate some elements from ichiko's style, specifically a white ruffled tulle skirt and bits and pieces from the ocean theme. i plan on wearing my oversized leather boots that have a pointed toe along with my white scarf that i thought to wrap around my head – somewhat imitaing the pirate look? i'm still unsure whether i will wear my purple tie, but i do want to use my little purple tote bag that has a ruffled hem. i also have an ocean-themed beaded bracelet and some chinese knot earrings that i love - i'll see whether i'm gonna wear them together or one of the two. lastly, my cream-colored jumper that has a little satin ribbon accessorising one sleeve. i would honestly prefer a white big-collared blouse instead but i have a hunch i will freeze to death otherwise T^T for blue accents, i want to wear my dark blue tights underneath my skirt and also go with my fav blue eyeshadow + blue mascara combo!
that's it, i hope you like the look hehe; if i take a nice photo of the end result i will add it here~ i can't wait to see ichiko! (...fingers crossed i won't get harassed on public transit on my way there)
btw, i use an app called "indyx" to index my clothes and have it create these "cut-outs" you can see in the moodboard! it's really cool to digitalise your wardrobe and plan outfits. if you use my code "seenarin" for signing up, you and i will get a $10 credit :D the app is free to use though, just some special stats & functions require money.